Thursday, July 25, 2013

I sure do wonder how these things happen. This is the first time for me. Please, if you receive any odd emails from me (someone received one about weight loss) please do not click on any links or think I sent them. I did not. I thought something was strange when I tried to get into my account and Yahoo was telling me there had been some unusual activity & I needed to change my password. You would think people had better things to do.

I know I haven't posted for a few days. Neither have I kept up with responding to comments left on my last 2 posts, nor have I responded to several very sweet emails, nor have I kept up with blog reading for the past 3 days. I just seem to have a lot of things weighing me down lately, & as you all know, dealing with a lot of things that weigh you down can be rather exhausting. I want to thank everyone who has sent me their prayers & thoughtful comments & emails. I appreciate them more than you know.

First of all, many of you will remember my dental woes last year. In brief, after my local dentist, Dr. Earlene Greene, who among other things made 3 bridges for me which did not fit, ignored a serious bone infection, treated me rudely, lied to me, offered to give me my money back & then ignored me when I asked for it, I reported her incompetence to the state dental board. Before doing so, I researched dental specialists, prosthodontists, & made an appointment with one who appeared to be the second best in his field in the state of Kentucky. He agreed that the bridge Dr. Greene had made me (this would be my third bridge) was made incorrectly. However, he stated emphatically that he would not be willing to share this opinion in litigation or otherwise. I then was lucky enough to get an appointment with not only the best prosthodontist in the state of Kentucky, but one of the best in the country. He agreed with the first prosthodontist I saw but likewise told me he would not share his opinion in litigation or otherwise. He scheduled me with another prosthodontist in the office who was horrified with what he saw, & this prosthodontist called over another prosthodontist who was likewise horrified because Dr. Greene had used the root canal post connected to the serious bone infection as a point of placement for the incorrectly made bridges. They even discovered a second bone infection of a less serious nature on a tooth where Dr. Greene had placed a crown. Of course these prosthodontists also refused to put their opinions in writing or become involved in litigation. They would not begin any work on me until this infection was taken care of, so they marched me over to another specialist, an endodontist, & I underwent 2 surgeries & a bone graft (both of which produced a lot of pain & a serious infection). No one will know if the bone graft is successful until January 2014, so all this time I have been whistling like a tea kettle when I talk, drooling out of the right side of my mouth when I drink something, & having pain in my jaw because of the bridge not fitting correctly. Anyway, I put the whole sad story in writing, included copies of Dr. Greene's office notes, x-rays showing the infections she ignored, copies of x-rays taken during my bone graft surgery, & copies of my letters to her explaining the problems I was having, which she ignored, & I filed a complaint with the state dental board. I received their decision in the mail a few days ago. It said "The Law Enforcement Committee has determined that there is insufficient evidence of a violation of the Dental Practice Act. Although the Board lacks jurisdiction to impose disciplinary action in this matter, we will file the complaint in our office for monitoring purposes." Of course I guess I shouldn't be surprised because none of the specialists would share their opinion of her bad work in writing, but the Board had the x-rays. If nothing else, it was plain as the nose on Jimmy Durante's face that Dr. Greene ignored those infections. She gets to keep the $5000 I paid for her services & I will have to now pay money for another bridge assuming the bone graft has been successful. If it has not been successful, my only option will be dentures because Dr. Greene left no teeth in that area to use for a partial. I am repeating the above scriptures a lot these days.

Since July 2nd I have been in the emergency room twice with a severe a-fib attack & once in a cardiac PA's office. I had not wanted to see my cardiologist of the past 3 years, Dr. Gary Grigsby, because of his rude, lying nurse. I was not happy when the PA sent me home from his office, still in a-fib (140-150 beats per minute), with a prescription for a new medication. I was still a-fibbing 24 hours later, & the new medication did nothing for my a-fib but it did make me extremely depressed. I stopped taking it the morning of my 2nd ER visit on the 13th & I wrote about my treatment there in my blog post that day. The ER doctor had given me a prescription for another heart medication which brought my blood pressure way down (one morning it was 70/40!) & did nothing for the a-fib. It did, however, give me a terrible itching rash all over my face & neck. I had scheduled an appointment with Dr. Grigsby despite his rude, lying nurse. I received a call last Friday confirming my appointment for this Monday; then on Monday I received a call in the morning from the receptionist telling me that the nurse & Dr. Grigsby had been talking & I was not a patient of his. I told her I have been seeing him for the last 3 years ... of course I'm his patient! She put me on hold, apparently talked with the rude, lying nurse, & then came back on the phone to tell me that I had an appointment with the PA in the office earlier this month & it is a rule in the office that you cannot switch to another doctor after you have established with someone else ... you need to stick with the one you establish with. Well, I had established with & seen Dr. Grigsby for 3 years no one batted an eye when I saw the PA who isn't even a doctor! The poor receptionist didn't know what to do ... she was caught in the middle, poor thing, & I knew that asking to talk with the rude, lying nurse would be useless, so it seems I am now without a cardiologist as I continue to have little a-fib attacks.

Now ... the one thing I will forever be grateful for is the PA referred me to a cardiac electrophysiologist. He is a doctor who deals solely with heart rhythm problems. I was referred to him to see if I would be a candidate for something called cardiac ablation. They run a lead up through your leg to your heart & then insert a wire into the lead which has a little electrode on the end &, as I understand it, this little electrode makes little burns around & inside your heart & this is supposed to keep your heart beating in rhythm. He (Dr. Hesselson) is absolutely wonderful. He spent 45-60 minutes with me going over my a-fib history, then explained the procedure. However, I am a bit of an odd case. Because I had a Greenfield filter placed back in 1995 after my 3rd blood clot in my left leg to prevent future clots, if I developed any, from going to my heart or brain, he might not be able to get the lead through it. This is because the Greenfield filter I have is an older model. If if was a newer model, there would be no problem. He is willing to give it a try though. If he tries to insert the lead & it won't go past the filter, he will abort the procedure. All will not lost, however. They can also do the ablation by either putting portals in your chest in which they would insert the lead, or by opening your chest to do the ablation. He does not do this particular surgery & neither do any of his colleagues. I would need to go to the Cleveland Clinic to get it done. He increased one of my heart medications, gave me a new one to try, & he will see me again in a month & I can let him know what I want to do ... either keep taking the medications, try for the cardiac ablation & hope he can get the lead past the filter, & if not, then decide if I want to go to the Cleveland Clinic for the portal/open chest procedure.

I have no idea what to do. I'm thinking I'm probably going to have to have the ablation done at some point so why not do it now when I'm still relatively young. My brother also has a-fib but his doctor won't allow him to have an ablation because he is too old (71). Then again, I'm afraid of someone messing around with my heart. I am asking for prayer please ... for God to give me the wisdom to know what to do.

Okay ... I have oddles of photos to share & some are probably not even relevant anymore but let me see what I can do. I'll start off with my IHSW project.

This is a Shepherd's Bush kit called Merry Merry Be. Well, let me tell you, I have been anything but merry while stitching it. I don't particularly not like Shepherd's Bush designs but I've been working on this one for at least 3 weeks now, maybe 4, & I have been hating every minute of it. I literally force myself to sit down & work on it. At one point I thought I would just offer it for someone else to finish, but I decided it might be a nice gift to give someone so I've been pressing on. It would've been nice is SB had provided enough floss for the project. That white stocking is supposed to have some red specialty stitches on it, but despite my usual carefulness not to waste floss, I have none of the red floss left. The light green color is also nearing extinction. Of course SB doesn't give you any indication of what brand of floss this is. Did I mention it's silk floss? I've been doing some stash downsizing & included in the huge pile of charts & kits I no longer want is every single one of my SB charts & kits. I don't intend to ever stitch a Shepherd's Bush project again.

I did finish this LHN ornament (Winter Forest) before starting the dreaded SB project. I've stitched this one before as a gift but decided to stitch it again for myself using 40-count linen this time instead of the 30-count which the pattern calls for. I'm not too sure about the outcome. It's kind of a busy design & I think it might be kind of lost when made into an ornament. Time will tell I guess.

I've received a couple gifts lately! First is this one from Marie at Creative Thread. A while back she posted her progress on her Prairie Schooler Alphabet. I thought it consisted of such wonderful designs! I wrote to ask Marie about the designs & she said I could find some of the designs on eBay. I did find a couple on eBay, & 123 Stitch had the rest of them with the exception of G-H-I. Marie had told me that if I couldn't find any of the charts to let her know & she would check her LNS. I wrote to ask if she would check for me, & the next thing I knew, I received G-H-I in the mail from her as a gift! Thank you again Marie!

I was also gifted with an RAK envelope full of goodies from cucki, cuckistitchingcove. There is a little package of Seeds of Friendship, a cute little spoon with a little recipe for cherry pie, a little nuts bag, & a lovely little handmade gift card. Thank you again cucki : )

This third photo shows both a gift & a win. Recently Vickie at A Stitcher's Story offered a traveling pattern, Lizzie*Kate's Friends Are Like Angels. I'm not a big Lizzie*Kate fan but I liked this pattern. I entered for a chance to be the next person to stitch it & my name was picked! Along with the pattern, Vickie sent a lovely notecard & she made me a set of her counting pins. Vickie makes the best counting pins ever! I should stop stitching that blasted Shepherd's Bush project & start the Angels pattern so it can travel to someone else. Good idea : )

After my visit with the cardiac electrophysiologist, who by the way is in Lexington, John & I stopped by a favorite store or two, one of which was Barnes & Noble. I love looking at their bargain books. I was so excited when I saw this one, & even more excited when I looked through it! So many luscious soup recipes! I love soup but I rarely make it because John does not care for it. When I do make soup, I end up freezing some to eat at another time. I can't wait until my diet is over & I can start making some of these soups! I am fantasizing about myself this coming winter, fireplace burning, sitting at my table looking outside as the snow is falling, enjoying a delicious bowl of soup. This depends, of course, on whether we sell the house or not since I have no fireplace now & our snowfall is basically nil ... but either way, I will be enjoying a lot of these soups!

Speaking of selling the house, we had a real dry spell of several weeks when no one came to look at it. On Monday evening we had a very nice young couple with 2 children come to view it. They were here quite a long time & said they were very interested. They want to come back sometime this week to walk the property line. My fingers are crossed, but whatever God's plan is, it's fine with me. The realtor said another buyer expressed interest in seeing the house but he hasn't heard back from them yet. We are once again in "where will we live if the house sells/what if we're doing the wrong thing" mode. It is kind of sad that we each see both the pros & cons of moving & staying put. We still have no real idea where we will move if the house does sell. The biggest contenders are northern Kentucky across the border from Cincinnati, Ohio, somewhere in Ohio, Crossville, Tennessee where we've lived before, possibly somewhere near Knoxville, Tennessee, & maybe somewhere in Wisconsin. We are even thinking of just heading up the road to Lexington since I have some good doctors there. We are, however, pretty much open to anywhere. We always loved the western part of the country ... we love the mountains ... but now that we're older, moving that far away from everyone doesn't seem quite comfortable. Whatever happens, God will lead & provide.

We are excited to see our hummingbird visitors back again. I think we have maybe 3 of them who enjoy gorging themselves on our hanging baskets & especially on these flowers which I forget the name of. I like how in the second photo he or she is taking a little rest : )

And here are the last of our daylilies. All have bloomed now. I need to get outside & trim off the flower stalks. Hopefully I can do it without causing too much stress on my back. My back has been improving with physical therapy, home exercises & pain medications. Hooray for me : ) I still have twinges of pain, but nothing like the pain I was experiencing a few weeks ago. Anyway, the first daylily is one you've already seen ... the Midnight-something which is one of the "rare" ones, so I've been told. This is a much better picture than the last one I was able to take. The others may not be rare, but they are all pretty. I've enjoyed sharing them with you : )

And tha-tha-that's all folks! I hope you are all doing well. Hopefully sometime today I will be able to chance to catch up on my blog reading. My hugs & prayers are with you all.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

I have many other things I could write about today other than this company, but I believe it is important to get the word out. The company is Mary Jane's Cross 'N Stitch. They are located in Murphy, Texas. Their website is http://www.maryjanes.com/.

They brag on their website that they have been "Your Mail Order source for Counted Cross Stitch supplies since 1977." I find it extremely hard to believe that this company could have stayed in business for 6 months.

On April 13 of this year, I sent an order to Mary Jane's for some chenille trim & a button. I received an automated "thank you for your order." As of April 27, I had not received my order. I wrote an email asking for the status. No response. On April 30 I once again sent an email asking for the status of my order. Again I received no response. I even tried contacting them twice via their website form. No response.

On May 3, I once again wrote to ask the status of my order, informing them that I had already sent them 2 emails & 2 website form requests for an update without a response. They actually responded to this email 3 days later on May 6. They told me they were waiting for a couple of the trims & the button. They informed me that these items were due to arrive that week & they would ship them to me as soon as they received them.

On May 17 my order had still not arrived. I wrote to Mary Jane's telling them this was ridiculous & I refused to put up with such poor service any longer. I told them to cancel my order.

I wrote to Mary Jane's this morning & told them their "customer service" is beyond laughable. I told them I would keep the order even though they had the nerve to send it to me after I told them to cancel it. I also informed them that I would post my experience with their company on my blog to alert others to how they treat their customers. That is what I'm doing now.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

(This post is a long one about medical stuff. Feel free to pass it by if you're not interested in such things.)

A wonderful scripture, isn't it ... especially if your flesh or heart is failing. I can't particularly say that my heart is failing, but it's not doing well : ( I mentioned in my last post about having gone to the ER on July 2 for a whopper of an atrial fibrillation attack. They gave me a shot of something in my IV which helped stop the a-fib within an hour, then sent me home with instructions to see my cardiologist as soon as possible.

I love my cardiologist. He's one of the best in the devil's playground. However, his nurse is ... how can I put this nicely ... unfit for human interaction. I never again wanted to deal with her rudeness, her "I'm better than you are" attitude, her argumentativeness, or her propensity to put incorrect information in my file. I therefore decided to ask my PCP to refer me to another cardiologist. She instead made me an appointment with the local cardiac PA. I was told that I was seeing the PA because he had the first appointment available. The appointment was scheduled for this past Wednesday, July 10. As luck would have it, I woke up Wednesday morning with another whopper of an a-fib attack. I had two choices. Go to the ER, or wait 2 hours until my appointment with the PA. I decided to wait. Bad move on my part. The PA is a very nice man, but there I was in his office with my heart beating between 140-150 beats per minute & rather than sending me directly to the ER for their intervention, which I assumed would be the case, he instead called the pharmacy & ordered me a prescription for digoxin, another a-fib type of drug which I had never taken before. He said to take 2 pills when I picked up the prescription, 2 pills six hours later, & then 1 pill each day after that. He ordered a cardiac echo (ultrasound of the heart) for me to have done July 19, & then he made a referral for me to see a cardiac electrophysiologist which is a specialist who deals with heart rhythm problems. My appointment with him is on the 23rd. He will evaluate my heart to see if I'm a candidate for some kind of ablation. The PA told me that it has a 60-70% success rate. If ablation is not something I am a candidate for, there's the possibility of pacemaker placement when (not if) things get really bad.

I left the PA's office still in a-fib, assuming that the digoxin was some kind of miracle medication that would stop it on the spot. John drove to the pharmacy & the pills weren't ready yet. They said to come back in 2 hours & they'd be ready then : ( We went back 2 hours later. I got the pills, took 2 & waited for my heart to start beating normally again. It didn't. I called the PA's office 2 hours later to let them know I was still a-fibbing. The nurse said I "probably just needed to get used to the medication" & I should take my next dose of 2 when the time came for that, & if I was still a-fibbing the next morning I could either go to the ER or call the office. I took the next dose of 2, nothing happened. The next morning I was still a-fibbing but instead of my beats being between 140-150, they were now between 110-120. Still high. Dumb bunny me, I called the office rather than go to the ER. The nurse said she would refer my information to the PA & let me now what he had to say. Half an hour later she called back. The PA said the digoxin was "apparently helping" since my rate had gone down & that I should just keep taking it & I'd be fine. I took my morning dose that morning. I wasn't fine. Not only did I continue to a-fib, I became extremely, extremely depressed. I have, of course, been depressed over the course of my life. It's all been due to situational things, however. The betrayal of a friend, someone cheating me out of money, etc. This depression was different. I felt as though I was in a deep pit of despair. I didn't feel like doing anything, I didn't care about anything, all I wanted to do was pull the covers over my head & hide from the world. I could only blame it on the digoxin. I looked up the side effects of the medication on Google. Depression is a side effect, albeit a very low one. Low or not, I didn't care. I knew how I was feeling.

I knew that if I called the PA's office & talked with the nurse again, she would just tell me I needed to get used to the medication & to keep taking it ... so I kept taking it. No change in a-fib, no change in the depression, so I decided that as of this morning I wouldn't take it anymore & try to go back to seeing my old doctor with the unfit for human interaction nurse. Of course as luck would have it, I woke up this morning with another a-fib attack almost as bad as the one last week when I went to the ER. My heart rate was at 164 beats per minute. I woke John & told him we needed to go to the ER. Everything would've been fine if the ER team that saw me back on the 2nd had been there, but with the exception of one nurse for whom I'm sure there is a special place in heaven, everyone was different. A doctor came in to talk with me & as she was asking me questions I had to wonder if maybe I had found myself in a comedy sketch. She asked me about any other illnesses I have. I would mention something, & I'm being totally honest here ... she would say back to me "What's that?" & I had to explain it to her & then she's say "Oh, okay ... & what else is wrong with you?" & the process would be repeated again. I soooo wanted to ask "What's wrong with you?" but I didn't. She also mentioned that when they did blood tests my digoxin level was not what it should be. I told her I had taken it for a few days but it made me extremely depressed & so I decided to stop taking it that morning. She almost laughed at me! She said "I never heart of such a thing! My mother takes digoxin & it doesn't make her depressed!" & then went looking through her little iPad or whatever it was she was carrying with her & then said "Well, depression is a symptom but it's way down on the list." Thankfully John was with me & he described to her how depressed I was the first day I started taking the medication & how it had continued & she looked at him like he was making it up! She left the room & the next thing I knew the nurse with the special place in heaven came in with some medication to put into my IV. She took one look at me & remembered me from the 2nd, made the comment that she was sorry to see me back there again, & then took a look at the medication & said "This isn't what we gave you last time!" She said she'd go talk with the doctor about it. About 2 minutes later she came back with the same medication which was not the medication I had on the 2nd & said "The doctor wants you to have this." She shot it in my IV & I never saw her again. I'm guessing the doctor didn't appreciate her orders being questioned. The medication didn't help ... I stayed in a-fib. (The medication they gave me on the 2nd stopped the a-fib in less than an hour.) After a little over an hour, the doctor comes back & tells me she's going to give me a pill of this exact same medication that wasn't doing anything & I will have to stay in the ER for another hour & then if everything is okay they will send me home. I took the pill. My heart rate not only increased & but it was bouncing all over the place. I was quite surprised when she came in & said I could go home ... she would write me a prescription for this exact same medication. When I told her that my heart rate had increased since I took the pill & that my heart was flopping all around, she looked at me like I was an idiot & said "You have a-fib ... your heart is always going to be flopping around!" (It's not "always going to be flopping around" because I have paroxysmal a-fib which means it's not constant.) She then told me to follow up with my cardiologist next week & said to tell him about the depression issues & see if he believes me! I couldn't believe it!

I was in the ER for 4 hours. On the way home we stopped to get the prescription filled that she had given me, then came home & had a small lunch & then I went to bed & slept for a few hours. I'm totally exhausted. Unless you have a-fib, you can't imagine how tiring it is, & then the next day you still feel terrible. I'm not a-fibbing right now so maybe these pills will help me. I hope so, but I am counting the seconds until I can see the specialist on the 23rd. Hopefully he will be able to stop this from happening.

While looking for pictures of a heart to use for this post, I came across a photo for heart-shaped cookies. Don't these raspberry jam-filled Linzer cookies look delicious, & that hot chocolate with the dollop of cream???

I also found this picture of heart-shaped biscuits. The cookies look good, but my mouth is truly watering looking at these biscuits! Biscuits are one of my biggest weaknesses! Hot biscuits smothered in butter ... maybe some jam sometimes, maybe even some honey, but just plain biscuits dripping with butter is something that I hope Jesus serves us in heaven : )

If you've dared to read this entire post, I thank you. Your prayers will be appreciated. I haven't been doing much lately with this all this medical stuff plaguing me but I do have some photos of things to show you that I took during my "better days." I'll share next time.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

I think this is the first time in my blogging history that I haven't posted anything in over a week. My excuse is that between physical therapy visits, home exercises, dieting, & constant tiredness, it's been that sort of time. I have been taking photos along the way, however, so I have a few goodies to share with you : )

First of all, here is a RAK I stitched for Chris at Tot Hill Farm Stitches. She received it last week & said she was very pleased with it : ) This is another of Laura's great designs (The Little Stitcher) called A Day of Joy. I used an 1800s reproduction print on the back.

Here are some finishes Myra did for me recently. There are 4 but I can only show you 2 because the other 2 are gifts. I'll show them when they are received : ) Of course all of them are amazing : ) If you follow Vickie's blog, you might remember her posting a finished piece she did called Rabbit Stitcher. I thought it was so cute & I asked her if I could borrow it. She kindly said yes. The designer is Little Treasures Designs. Myra finished it into a pin pillow (note the cute scissors charm she added!) using a fantastic polka dot fabric front & back. Unbeknownst to her, I have a "thing" for polka dots so I was thrilled : )

This next finish Myra did for me is a box finish ... my first one! Naturally she did a fabulous job : ) The design is Tis Better by La-D-Da. Not only did she paint the box & attach the stitched piece, she included a little quilted coaster inside, each side of the coaster being different! Oh that Myra! There's a special place in heaven for her : )

Now I am going to show you a bunch more daylilies that have bloomed over the past 7 or 8 days. Just scroll down through the multitude of photos if you aren't interested in them. There are raindrops on a few of the daylilies. That particular morning it kept raining off & on so I had to zip out there & take the photos when I could : ) A couple of them might look somewhat similar but they are truly different daylilies.

These next 2 are "rare" daylilies. I would tell you their names but I'd have to go out into the garage to dig out the tags. My very favorite of these is the white one. The dark one, which I do remember has the word Midnight in the title, looks a bit ratty. I got the photo of that one after it had already been out for a day.

Believe it or not, there are still a few more I am waiting to bloom! You might be wondering where all these daylilies are planted. Well, here you go : )

Okay, you've probably had enough pictures for one post : ) I have no other news to tell you except I've been continuing to stitch on the LHN Winter Forest ornament & I'm about half way done with the stitching right now. I also was in the emergency room yesterday. My atrial fibrillation went crazy for some reason & I woke up with it at 5:35 a.m. I was supposed to go to physical therapy at 8 o'clock so I decided to get ready, thinking it would fix itself which it often does. I had a very difficult time. I couldn't stand ... I felt like I was going to black out & I felt all clammy. I had to brush my teeth sitting down on the side of the tub, fix my hair sitting down, etc. Very, very odd. Like I said, I kept expecting it to stop. Since an hour & a half went by & it was still going crazy, John took me to the ER. They had a bit of trouble getting my heart to start beating correctly again but they finally infused me with something or other & after a while I was okay, thank goodness ... otherwise they would've had to admit me. I surely didn't want that! I was in the ER for about 4 hours & came home & slept most of the day. I am okay this morning but need to followup with my cardiologist.

I wish everyone a happy 4th of July ... even my foreign friends : ) Nothing special will be going on here. It will be a day like any other day. Maybe I'll get in some extra stitching time though : )